Faultless
by LizzyLucky
Summary: In the moments following the final scene in 3Below (which means SPOILERS, btw), Krel learns that he may not have ended up quite so unscathed as he thought. As the situation goes from bad to worse and worse, Aja's protective side makes a show and the two go through a very long 6 hours of confiding in and comforting each other, poor Krel learning how to deal with pain all the way.


Alright, so… I binged all 13 episodes of 3Below on the day it came out and am totally and COMPLETELY in love with this show and its characters. I spent like, 20 minutes fuming over the fact that nothing I can find online so much as mentions a season 2 yet and so I have no idea how long the wait will be… I'll have to look up how much time was between each season for Trollhunters, maybe I can get an estimate… XD Anyhoo, like many, I'm sure, Krel has pretty instantly turned into my favourite character and, let's admit it girls, my new animated crush, so he's going to be the center (ish) of this story. I suppose, though, that it really does seem to be more from Aja's perspective, if only a little. And, uh, naturally, there will probably be a lot of spoilers to the show, so I wouldn't suggest reading this if you don't want too many. Although, to be fair, it focuses more on the sibling relationship than on any of the season's plots, so… Right, enough from me! Warnings, aside from spoilers, this will basically be a major character in major pain from a major injury, so it may not be 100% child-friendly. I'm not usually super detailed with gore, but just a fair warning that it won't really be pretty either. Other than that, just a disclaimer that I don't own the show or its characters or anything, just the idea for this story, so enjoy! Thanks, guys!

-LizzyLucky

* * *

Aja rested her head on Krel's shoulder and leaned into her younger brother as he sniffled away the last of his tears. She could understand his concern. The mothership was much more severely damaged now than when they had crashed it the first time. And their mothership 'disguise' of sorts now sat in the middle of a bunch of trees instead of in the neighborhood it had been before. They had no idea what state Vex was in, their parents still hadn't been restored, they had no way of returning to their people, to their thrones, or to their home. They were stuck, even if Earth was nicer than they'd expected, and things were grimm. But they had each other. They had inspired their people to fight until they themselves could. Their parents were stable. And they had every opportunity to make up for things and for time lost, to learn about what needed to be done. And for the time being, that was enough. All they could possibly do was enjoy the sunrise, and spend their first day of "summer" resting. Everything would turn out okay.

A few minutes had passed and the majority of the wonderful fiery red that came from the Earth's sunrise had finally faded away and was turning into a simple, although bright, yellow-white light which began to bathe the land. Aja found herself feeling more exhausted than she had done in ages and yawned deeply as the pretty sight soothed her aggravated state of mind. She re-adjusted her legs and snuggled in to her brother a little more, to which the younger Akiridian gasped softly. Curious, Aja sat up and faced him.

"Little brother?" She questioned, glancing him up and down. She was alarmed to see his face scrunched up in discomfort. He blinked a few times and looked at his four hands as though they were alien to him, confused.

"Something is wrong." He said quietly. "I can't- Kind of dizzy- I do not know-" He stuttered, struggling to figure out what he was trying to say. Aja felt concern bubble in her core and sat up straighter. She lifted his chin up to get his attention and stood up, gesturing for him to do the same. He placed his hands behind him and pushed himself up quickly, visibly wincing as he did so.

"Let me see." Aja demanded. Krel held his arms out to his sides so they weren't in the way and began to sway on his feet, leaning too heavily to the right for Aja's comfort. She reached forward to grab hold of his arms and steady him.

"I'm fine." Krel said quickly, moving his arms back so she couldn't reach them. He re-steadied his feet and gave her a small smile, but kept his arms lifted up. Aja sighed but chose not to say anything.

Reaching forward with her own four arms, she began to pat Krel down top to bottom.

"Is anything causing you pain?" She asked, looking to his face worriedly. He swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Yes. But I am not sure from where." He answered honestly.

Aja moved from his head to his shoulders to his chest and seemed to find nothing.

"Mama used to do this." Krel said suddenly, quietly. Startled by the thought, Aja stopped patting around her brother's torso and looked at him to see her own pain at their parent's near loss reflected in his eyes.

"Do you remember when we were younger and Papa would set us up basic combat training lessons? It is clear to me you have become a much better warrior than I ever have been, with much more skill, but I feel I did learn a few things about how to face an opponent." He paused to smile, as though remembering something endearing.

"There was this one time… when I had taken Papa's instruction to face my opponent from a haunched perspective too literally… That I had squatted so low to the ground that I stepped upon my own weapon and fell face down at the same time my sparring partner chose to attack." He chuckled.

"Mama was so worried about me getting hurt that she pat me down until she discovered a cut on one of my legs." He smiled brighter, almost laughing at what he thought to be the ridiculousness of his own memory.

Then he fell silent and turned his head away sadly, the smile on his face falling. Aja frowned and turned her attention back to checking him over. Why did he have to bring something like that up? It was nice to think about silly things like that, but it made her sad. Why? Weren't nice memories supposed to bring up nice feelings?

"Ah!" Krel yelped suddenly. "That- ow!" He cried and stumbled back a few steps, away from Aja's prodding, and wrapped his own arms around his middle. Aja, alarmed, looked down at her hands to see the two on her right covered in Krel's blood. Looking back up at Krel, they both seemed to notice at once, for the first time, how Krel's left side of his stomach was soaked entirely through. How could they have missed that? Perhaps their biological design was too monotonous in colour…

"I did not realise-" Krel began, stopping abruptly to shudder, his face screwed up in pain. "How could I have- How did I-" He stopped again, moaning in pain.

Aja rushed forward and grabbed hold of his arms, successfully this time, as he began to sway once more. "Krel! Let me see!" She said urgently. Krel looked up at her as though he'd only heard her voice but not her words. He blinked hard and shook his head slowly.

"I can't move my arms away…" He said. Aja looked down and saw his lower arms clamped tightly around his stomach, and his upper arms grasping onto his lower arms as though he were trying to pry them off. "Why can't I…" He trailed off, sounding suddenly very tired.

Aja held onto her brother with her upper arms and used the other two to help pry Krel's away from his midsection, earning a groan from the latter.

"Are you alright?" Aja heard herself ask. She couldn't think of anything else to say, nothing quite like this had happened to either of them before.

"I don't know." Krel answered, sounding pained. Without warning, his knees buckled and Krel fell quickly to the ground with a surprised yelp, his fall barely cushioned by his sister's hold on him. She dropped to her knees, looking thoroughly panicked, and pulled her arms around him to keep him sitting up.

"No, no no no!" She said quickly as Krel tensed up at the pain that the sudden movement brought him. "Hold on, little brother, I will figure something out!"

Aja herself tensed up as she briefly re-examined the wound and found it still to be bleeding. With no other thought in her head than getting Krel to safety, she scooped her arms underneath him and lifted him up easily. Spinning on her heal, she walked as quickly as she dared to the edge of the roof nearest the massive rock they used to climb up. Krel had reluctantly gone almost completely lax in her arms, head against her shoulder and limbs hanging limply sans the two that held tightly to the injury.

"Sorry, little brother…" Aja mumbled as she leapt to the rock and then to the ground, Krel grunting each time she landed. Looking quickly left and then right to reorient herself first, Aja took off at a quick pace toward the front door of their 'house' and all but kicked the door through as she looked panickedly for the entrance to the center of their mothership, where all the medical supplies would most likely be.

Practically diving through said entrance, poor Krel groaning all the way, Aja found herself wishing more than ever that Vex were there with her. And to think she had been almost willing to take his life only hours ago… How could she have? He made a mistake and had risked his own life to make amends for it. Had been a mentor, guide, parent-figure, trainer… He had been as good to her as her own parents, and his mistake, however fatal, had been nothing more than that. As much as she had wanted him gone earlier, she wanted him here now.

What could she, alone, possibly know about healing her brother?

Krel interrupted her thoughts with a sort of choked-back sobbing sound which shattered Aja's core to pieces.

"Is it- Is it really that painful?" She asked, mortified by what she knew would be the answer. Krel, however, didn't answer, just closed his eyes and leaned into his sister more heavily with a whimper. Aja winced and turned a corner as she caught sight of a room entirely dedicated to giving medical attention. She entered it quickly and ever-so-gently laid her brother atop a white-sheeted bed, thinking to herself that it would not remain white for very long.

"Hold on, little brother, I must locate something to help slow the bleeding." She said. Something in Krel's eyes seemed to protest her leaving as she pulled her arms out from underneath him and turned away, scanning the room for anything that looked like, or looked like it might hold, a roll of bandages. Noting a set of stacked drawers in the opposite corner of the room that looked promising, Aja practically sprinted across the room and tore open the different drawers, incredibly relieved to find that the third one down held nothing but an assortment of different rolls of bandages and gauze pads. Grabbing a roll of everything, she wobbled back across the room and glanced at her brother once more.

"Hold on…" She nearly whispered, more to herself than anyone at this point. She dropped the bandages to the floor and knelt over Krel, searching for the exact point of the wound. Locating it quickly, she used two of her hands to all but rip open the hole in his damaged uniform, Krel's lack of exasperation at the action disconcerting, and tried to figure out how severe the injury was. It was so well covered in blood that she couldn't tell. It was just a large, jagged gash running the length of his left waist, and deciding not worry about what it actually looked like, Aja just grabbed three large pads of gauze and pressed them onto the wound- forgetting to warn Krel, who let out a heartbreaking wail of pain as she did so.

"Why didn't you say you were going to do that?" He asked loudly, the question broken between gasps as he squirmed at the firm pressure Aja kept.

"I'm sorry! I have to stop the bleeding!" Aja explained, giving him a panicked look. Krel lifted up his head and let it fall harshly back onto the bed, whimpering.

"I don't even know how I got hurt…" He said miserably. "I should have been more care- AH!- more _careful_!" Krel yelped as a wave of pain traveled through his side. He didn't even know it was there when they were sitting on the roof of their home. But since they discovered it, it's gone from mildly uncomfortable to harshly, _harshly_ painful.

"It was a mistake. We can handle it." Aja said to him. She could fix this. She could, couldn't she? Krel must have just been hit with one of those beams from one of those guns, or maybe he was just grazed by one of the enemies' sharper weapons…

Oh, no! Their enemies! Had they really all gone? It had been pretty quiet… What if they came back though? Or what if they were still here? At least Mother seemed to be back on their side... But what if they turned Mother again? What if there was still someone bad in the mothership or maybe a trap or something? If Krel got hurt, again, she wouldn't be able to fix it! Maybe she couldn't fix it now! What if Krel died? What if Krel got sick? What if Krel never healed properly and had to live in pain like this forever? It would be entirely her fault for not taking care of him! He was her responsibility! She was the older, she had to protect him and she'd failed!

She had to keep protecting him, she had to at least keep trying. If there was still someone in the house, she'd… She'd…

As Aja stood back up and turned around to go get more rolls of gauze, because it had become clear that _this_ would not be enough, she bumped into something, some _one_ , and yelped, dropping a sopping wet, bloody piece of gauze onto the floor.

She scrambled backward in a panic, startled out of her thoughts, and jumped into a defensive pose, her state of mind completely wary and alert.

"Woah, woah! Settle down, Princess! It's just me! It's Stuart! Stu! Your pal! Friend! Not foe!" The former stranger rattled off, lifting up his hands (human, as he was in his disguise) in defense. Aja relaxed somewhat, breathing a sigh of relief but shaking her head and grimacing. Stuart, unaware of the situation, put his hands down and chuckled nervously.

"I found Vex." He said simply. Aja perked up immediately. They were saved! Vex would know what to do! He could help Krel!

"Well, I mean, sorta." Stuart added quickly, noticing as Aja completely deflated.

"What do you mean, "sorta?" What is this expression?" She asked skeptically. Stuart stiffened, being watched closely by Aja.

"He… wasn't in his vehicle…" He said cautiously, flinching as Aja fisted her hands. "I saw a ship overhead flying away, and the signs of struggle around his own vessel suggested he'd been captured and taken captive..." He finished explaining, stiffening once more in preparation for an expected slap to the face or a lecture from the now clearly distraught Akiridian Queen in waiting. He was surprised to see her deflate even more, suddenly looking entirely depressed.

"What's wrong, Aja?" He asked, confusion lacing the question. Aja looked up at him, giving him probably the biggest puppy-dog eyes he'd ever seen, brimming with tears. That was saying something, he'd worked enough places and gotten enough stereotyped customers to know a good puppy-dog face when he saw one…

"Krel's hurt!" She blurted out, voice wavering. "I don't know what to do!" She sobbed, unconsciously jumping forward and wrapping her arms around the alien now caught completely off-guard.

"Oh. I- Uh… Well," Stuart stuttered, trying to soften at her touch. It was clearer to him in this moment than in any other that he'd known these royalty that Aja and Krel were still just children. Children shouldn't have to deal with planet jumping and bad guys and injuries, he thought.

"Let's go take care of him, then." He said simply.

 _That sounded a lot less stupid in my head…_ He thought.

Aja pulled away from him and nodded, wiping away the tears that had been streaking down her face and shaking her head. The young Princess grabbed hold of Stuart's arm and pulled him over to Krel's corner of the room. They were both alarmed to see Krel gasping in uneven breaths and tensing up every few seconds, making a visible effort not to clutch at the poorly covered wound on his side. He opened his tightly shut eyes and, immediately upon catching sight of his sister, let out another choked sob.

"Make it stop!" He cried out, throwing his head back. Aja, another panicked expression on her face, rushed forward and grabbed at the gauze pads she'd left on Krel's stomach, finding she had to peel them off, as they'd stuck to the wound since she'd put them there.

"I was only gone a minute!" She exclaimed to herself, wondering how in the world the bandages could have bonded to the wound so quickly. Was that a good thing? It meant it was healing quickly, didn't it?

" _Please_ make it stop!" Krel begged, eyes watering. Stuart simply stood still, watching and completely horrified. This _child_ was heavily injured and in pain and it wasn't like _he_ knew anything about how to treat such an injury. How could Prince Krel even stand that much pain? His heart, along with Aja's, seemed to break in two as Krel cried.

"I'm trying, little brother!" Aja told him frantically, grabbing more bandages and pressing them to the wound, to which Krel let out a defeated sob of pain.

"Stuart, what do I _do_?" Aja asked, looking over to the older being as she held a bandage over the wound. Stuart grimaced and was tempted to look about himself as though Aja had been looking at someone near him. Vex was gone, and that was basically it. This was down to _him. He_ was the adult in this situation. And he may not know what he's doing, but he probably doesn't know what he's doing less than Aja doesn't know what she's doing, so…

"Uh, what about Mother?" He suggested. "Basically just a supercomputer, wouldn't she have medical information and treatments and whatnot?" He thought aloud, suddenly feeling very smart for it as Aja lit up all over again.

"I nearly forgot! That is a wonderful idea!" She breathed out, beaming at the realization that something that knew what it was actually doing might be able to help.

"Mother!" She yelled out quite suddenly, standing straight and tall as though it would help catch the computer's attention.

"Yes, my royal?" The A.I. answered at once.

"We need your help!"

"What can I help you with?" Mother responded monotonously.

"Krel is hurt! He has a large gash on the left side of his waist, running vertically, most likely caused by an enemy's blade. How do I slow the bleeding and treat the wound?" Aja explained, getting straight to the point. She was not going to waste any time while her little brother was in so much pain. (By the by, even though I've taken an Emergency Medical Technician class, I don't really know a ton about treating enourmous cuts on one's torso, and certainly not on an Akiridian. I'm just making a few educated guesses and going by what I think I can remember, which isn't much since I didn't pay attention in class…)

"Use a warm washcloth to clean off excess body fluid, then use a combination of the detoxification and disinfectant solutions to flush out the wound. Because there may be damage to internal organs in the area, I would suggest using an Akiridian tissue-forming solvent designed to stabilize organ tissue before you use the steril medical stitching kit to…"

As the A.I. machine continued to explain what materials to use, how to use them, why to use them, and where to find them, Stuart grew increasingly nervous for the young Prince. He was noticing, unlike Aja who was entirely enraptured in watching the ceiling while being given her directions, that Krel seemed to be growing pale, even for an Akiridian, while, at the same time, glowing less. The vibrant blue colour of his body had begun to gray and go dull. That didn't seem like a good sign.

"What about side-effects? Or pain-treatments?" Aja was saying. The computer gave her another answer, listing a half a dozen different and completely unpronounceable medications and treatments and herbal recipes to help with side-effects. Stuart, suddenly realizing he'd been doing nothing the entire time, decided to go looking for some of these and speed-walked over to the cupboards and drawers in the room, opening each up and digging through its contents like his life depended on it.

Or, more accurately, like Krel's did.

As the A.I. finished speaking, Aja, a previously unnoticed notepad and pen in her hand, made her way over to Stuart and pulled open an already dug-through drawer, from which she drew four more rolls of gauze.

"Here. See if you can find these things." She told Stuart, throwing the small notepad and pencil onto the counter beside him. "I need to start cleaning his wound." She said, turning around without another word. She ran out of the room with the bandages and returned less than a minute later with a large wad of dampened cloth, aiming for Krel, who still sat twitching and crying on his bed in the opposite corner. Stuart, who had initially thought to complain, just shook his head and picked up the notebook, wanting very badly just to help. If only all these different medications and treatments made sense to him… He'd find them, though, he would. He had to. For Krel's sake.

Speaking of, the poor Prince was not looking any better. If anything, he looked worse, struggling more to bring in fresh air as the minutes passed.

"How are you feeling, little brother?" Aja asked, moving to pull the old bandages off again so she could begin to wash the surface. Krel opened his mouth to answer, taking in a breath of air, and began to cough instead. Harsh, wet coughs that rattled his lungs and shook him to his core. Aja gave him a worried look and reached to brush a tear off his face. As her hand made contact, however, she yanked it back to herself, surprised.

"You are very warm to the touch, brother!" She exclaimed, eyebrows raised in shock.

"Really?" He asked, voice hoarse. "I feel very cold." He stated, shivering as though on cue.

"This isn't good. Not at all. We are not meant to have abnormal temperatures. It's highly uncommon." Aja said, searching the air with her eyes as though she might find some explanation there. When there was none, she creased her eyebrows in concern and began to gently clean away the blood on Krel, who took in a sharp breath of air.

"Ah… It really… It really hurts…" He admitted, tears still sliding down the sides of his face, which had contorted into the picture of agony. Aja reached up with one hand to rub her thumb on his cheek, trying very hard to comfort him, though he was still much too warm to the touch and it frightened her.

For the next several minutes, Aja worked at cleaning Krel's injury as quickly and as gently as she could, cringing every time he yelped or flinched.

Over that time it took, whilst Stuart continued to look for the supplies they needed, Krel began to look sleepier and more pained, crying silently and going grayer still. Seeing him look so dull in colour and in light was frightening, and his breathing got shallower everytime he coughed. It looked very much to Aja like a human fever, which it seemed entirely possible for Krel to contract while they were on earth, but it frightened Aja much more because to become sick in any sense was incredibly unnatural for any Akiridian. It simply didn't happen. Their immune systems were built to effectively block out most diseases, but that's how it had been for so long that Aja feared they may have devolved and become weak in fighting off a disease if it were contracted to begin with.

He wasn't going to die, was he?

"Aja…" Krel wheezed. Aja perked up and turned her attention to him.

"My throat hurts… and my wound… it won't _stop_ hurting or getting _worse…_ I don't understand…" He said slowly, voice cracking.

"Your wound may be getting infected thanks to the bacteria that grow on Earth…" Stuart spoke up suddenly from behind Aja, who leapt out of her skin, so to speak, and whipped around with a rag, accidentally whacking Stuart in the face with it.

"Oof!" He exclaimed.

"Ah! My apologies!" Aja quickly amended, reaching out to touch where she'd hit him. "What do you mean by it being infected?" She asked immediately. Stuart shook his head tiredly.

"There are germs in the air here that can get into an exposed wound and infect it. Makes it take longer to heal and can make it super painful. Usually can make you sick, too. Not good, not good…" Stuart trailed. Aja froze as he explained, horrified at the very _idea_ that something in the air itself was 'infecting' her little brother and making things worse. Akiridians were not built to deal with disease or germs or bacteria at all! This could turn into a fatal situation if she couldn't learn how to treat it!

"Anyhow, I have most of your things gathered up. I couldn't seem to find everything on the list, I'm afraid. It should be enough to tide things over, though. While you're busy, I think I'm gonna go make sure the perimeters are secure. Locked doors, closed windows, over-powered technologically advanced force-fields and such. Just make sure we'll be safe." Stuart said, setting down a brown basket filled with supplies. As he stood up and turned to walk out of the room, Aja, overcome with emotion, jumped up and ran over to him.

"Thank you." She said sincerely, wrapping her arms around him in another hug. Stuart leapt back somewhat but returned the hug much more readily this time. He offered a smile as they broke apart and walked their own ways, Stuart to the door and Aja back to her kin.

"I'm sorry, little brother." She said quietly as she knelt back down. Krel looked at her as though he wanted to say something but remained silent, tensing up again as his wound throbbed painfully and groaning. Aja inhaled shakily and set back to work, finding with relief that the bleeding had slowed significantly.

As Aja worked to begin cleaning out the wound, Krel slowly became more limp, breathing slowing even further and skin becoming warmer and damper. It was an odd thing to see an Akiridian flush in the face, Aja decided. It wasn't a general red/pink blush like the people on Earth, but more of a darker, blue-purple colour. Under any other circumstances, Aja might have found it adorably befitting for her little brother, but knowing that a being of pure energy had somehow caught a biological disease, it was not quite so flattering on him now.

Krel coughed harshly at that moment, fit lasting three times as long as the first one and sounding twice as bad. He moaned as he finished and Aja startled when he began to close his eyes.

"No, no, brother, do not go to sleep, I do not know what will happen!" She said quickly, leaning forward and putting two of her hands on each side of his face. She shook him gently and his eyes shot back open.

"I'm very tired." He said, blinking at her in an attempt to regain his focus. "And the light is very bright…"

"You cannot, little brother, you cannot!" Aja exclaimed, shaking him again as his eyelids began to droop. He gave her a pitiful look laced with confusion. "If you have contracted a biological illness, and are exhibiting biological symptoms, I do not want to risk letting you fall asleep because you do not have a biological immune system! Not like the people of Earth! I do not- I _cannot know_ what will happen!" She explained to him, eyes brimming over with fearful tears. She couldn't lose her brother. Even with another stasis chamber, she just couldn't do anything on her own, she couldn't imagine anything being worth her time and effort if he were not consciously there!

"Please don't go…" She said quietly, tears spilling over her cheeks now. Krel, though still looking on the verge of sleep, was shocked. He wasn't going anywhere, and he couldn't have been bad enough to even be reduced to his core. She was that concerned for him?

"I am not leaving, Aja. I am right here, I cannot even stand…" He said, not entirely certain if he was trying to be light-hearted about the situation or simply reassuring his sister of his physical in-the-now existence.

Instead of saying something or voicing her fears, Aja lifted Krel up ever so slightly and hugged him tightly as though she were afraid to let go of him. He, in response, hugged her back, a tangle of eight arms and two frightened children like they had been once so long ago.

Though it still ached significantly, both Aja and Krel seemed to forget for a moment about the injury Krel had sustained and simply held onto each other for reassurance. Aja had begun outright sobbing into Krel's shoulder, something he would never have even imagined. Crying itself, even, was a concept they were mostly unfamiliar with when they landed on Earth, although they were apparently very capable of it. Life on Akiridion was just so… perfect, in a sense, in comparison to earth… No one was separated from their family or their home, people did not go hungry, injuries were rare and usually so easy and clean to treat, no one ever got sick or scared or hurt because they never were attacked and their homeworld was immaculately clean and pure. There never was a need to cry. And here they were now… Aja could not stop crying for fear for that her brother would not recover, and Krel still struggled to slow his own tears spilt over an amount of pain that would have been unimaginable to most Akiridians and even to a large number of humans.

After a moment, however, Aja quieted her sobs and seemed to come to a halt in tears. She pulled back very slowly and gave Krel an apologetic look, to which he grinned as sympathetically as he could. Aja laid him carefully back on the bed, sniffling, although she seemed to have regained most of her composure.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." Krel said.

"What?" Aja responded, taken aback by the fact that he was apologizing over his own injury.

"I have been so foolish…" He added. "I never took the time or the care to learn to become a better warrior as you had. My self-defense training at home has been adequate on some occasion, but maybe if I had decided to become better as you, I would not have been injured. Or perhaps we could have… could have gotten to the mothership sooner. I could be moving more quickly and more stealthily. I could have prevented being injured and maybe… I…" He trailed off, getting choked in his own emotions as he began to pour out his insecurities. "I should have been faster. And I should have been working more consistently to maintain my status of being a supposed "technology genius." I could have reset Mother sooner. I _should have_. Perhaps, if I had been more careful to maintain my mental state of mind and to increase my own physical and physiological capabilities as you, we could have seen past their ploy to distract us and have prevented Mother being reprogrammed altogether! But we didn't! And that's… That is… Because of that, because our enemies were in a position to take control of our vehicle and home, Vex had to- Vex had- had to-!"

Aja opened her mouth to say something, but Krel reached out and uttered something entirely silent to halt her, angry tears showing his clear frustration.

"Vex is gone now, we do not even know if he is alive- because we could not reach our home base fast enough- c-couldn't- fast enough- because of _me_!" He shouted, more to the sky, it seemed, than to his sister. "And now I've worried _you!_ I could not have even imagined you being upset such as the way you are, not before we landed here, and because I could not adequately protect myself, I have caused you to be so! Varvatos Vex could be reduced to his core- or worse- and the mothership is momentarily irreparable- and at the peak opportunity to return to our home! Mama and Papa are- they- we cannot take control of the situation! There is nothing left to take control of! Nothing! And I have upset you- my own kin, my elder- more than I was at once even thought to be capable of so much as _imagining_ you to be… I am entirely unworthy to be your brother. I do not know why you care so much to keep me around. I am a _bother_. I am not worthy of this mark upon my forehead. I should never have the opportunity to be king… I-"

"Stop!" Aja cried. Krel, who had not realized that he'd sat up and pulled his knees up to his chest the way his sister had done on their first days on Earth, jumped as though he had forgotten he was not alone and turned his head to look at her. Aja was crying once more and had two of her hands pressed firmly over her mouth, her expression and body language screaming how horrified she was at everything he was saying. None of this was his fault. _None_ of it! How could he _possibly_ -

"Please, little brother, no more… None of this is true, not at _all._ Why would you believe any of it to be?" She asked softly, voice quavering. Krel blinked at her and couldn't think of anything to say, so turned his head away in shame.

"You are not a bother and you have never been. You are more agile and quick witted than many adults of even our own kind could be. You are more intelligent now than any in our age group and _you know it._ Please, _please,_ I beg you, do not dismiss yourself of so much!" Aja told him firmly, placing a hand on each of his shoulders and using another to lift his chin, giving him no choice but to look at her.

"You are my brother. You are _my little brother_. If you believe any of this to be your fault, it is just as much my own." She stated. Krel's eyes widened as though the idea that his older sister, his idol, his hero in this moment, was at fault shouldn't have even been conceivable. He seemed to realize that that must have been the very same thing she felt, if not worse because she were older, about him blaming himself.

"I could have pushed you to train with me, or been more supportive of these primitive "science fairs." I would have been watching out for you more and could have put more effort into protecting you and less pressure on you to take control of Mother." Aja continued. "But I do not blame myself for this." She added. With the last sentence, Krel's expression became less pained and more skeptical. He couldn't entirely believe that she didn't at least feel guilty for the pain he was in or even the fact that he had been hurt to begin with. She was, though he would not admit it for purpose of preserving her feelings, somewhat overprotective of him. She tended to mother him a lot if ever he were injured, which, he noticed abruptly, seemed to happen fairly often, especially more lately.

Seeming to sense his skepticism, Aja smiled and gave him a gentle push to the shoulder, effectively drawing him out of his thoughts. "That may not have been an entirely honest argument." She admitted, although sheepishly. "I do feel I could have and should have done more than I did to protect my little brother," she paused to run a hand through his hair affectionately, "but I recognize, even through my desire to have done better regardless of my inability to have done, that I am not at fault for the things which have happened to either of us. I need you to do the same thing, little brother." She finished. She gave somewhat a more genuine smile at that, thinking to herself that she had just unconsciously forgiven herself for everything that had happened. She did not realize it before, but she did now, that she had been angry with herself for even allowing her brother to be put into any predicament in which he could have been so severely injured. She was blaming herself for his pain and for her lack of knowledge in medical treatments and for every other little thing she could have done better in. She had wished that she could have just been more present in the little things, like his ridiculous science fair and his "math-off" that her friends at school had been speaking about. But she wasn't at fault for anything. She couldn't be perfect at everything, and nothing bad that had happened to her brother had at all been on her hands in that fashion. She was guilt-free. It was like starting anew, realizing all the things she wanted to be better at and having this sudden knowledge that nothing had been her fault. Feeling inspired, and so much more comforted and in-control, she looked from her hands to her brother's face to realize he seemed to be mid-realization on the same concept. He just looked bewildered, but seemed to sense her focusing on him and looked up at her.

"I think I understand." He said. He paused however, and looked down for a moment in thought. Then, looking back up, "Ah, maybe not really, but I can try."

The siblings shared a mutual smile and the world had gone back to being mostly okay. Almost like this morning as they sat to watch the sunrise. They were both exhausted. Things were in shambles, in every sense, but they understood each other, and it once more seemed like things would be alright.

That is, if not for the horrible gash in Krel's side, which had ever-so-politely waited for their sentimental moment to pass before it made itself known to them again.

"Ah-" Krel hissed, leaning back quickly on his four elbows. He and Aja looked down to note that the injury had stopped bleeding, which was very good, but that it was looking very swollen and did not seem to be mending itself well at all, which was very bad. Apparently, using your abdominal muscles to hover at half-laying-down-to-hug-someone-above-you height could cause aggravation to an injury of that location.

Before either had even come out of their trance enough to do anything about it, Krel hissed again and let himself fall ungracefully back to the bed.

"I forgot how much that hurt." He said bluntly, blinking in surprise at his sudden lack of energy. Aja almost wanted to laugh, but didn't. She gave him a once over and decided that the site of the wound was clean enough, diving right into her basket of materials and following what she could remember of Mother's instructions.

And, as it turned out, the whole part where you use a disinfectant solution to flush out the wound was not at all a pleasant process. Neither was using the tissue-forming solvent. Aja had almost wanted to give up entirely when Krel had begun to tear up again, but at that point they had both seemed to run out of tears. Krel had even used that new word they learned, "gross," to describe how absolutely ridiculous and feminine it was that they had both spent a total of 2 hours crying and hugging and spilling secrets like teenaged human girls in what he could remember being called a 'slumber party.' This before the following 4 hours of what would probably the most physically exhausting time spent going through different treatments and solutions and solvents and herbs and medications and bandages and on and on and on- It was mentally draining, too.

At some point in those four hours, Aja re-confronted Mother and discovered that Krel was, indeed, suffering from a very human-like fever. It's why his face was so flushed with that purple-blue colour and why he had been so very tired and warm to the touch. Mother explained that because they had been switching to biological bodies so often and where so well exposed to the atmosphere of a planet filled with biological creatures, their own genetics had been ever so, _so_ slightly altered so as to make them more vulnerable to the things in said atmosphere. Krel's injury had been exposed to the bacteria, as Stuart had called it, and it had been infected. That's why it had been hurting him so badly and why the disinfectant was both painful and necessary. The exposure to germs had apparently sent whatever ghost of Krel's biological form's immune system into overdrive and caused his true form to overheat as a normal human would. With a few human remedies, and a few of their own kind's remedies, they had managed to turn back his temperature. Not enough to be entirely in the clear, unfortunately, but enough to take away the edge and reassure Aja, in the least, that Krel would turn out fine.

The worst part came when Krel's injury had to be stitched. It was such a primitive form of wound mending, and for the fact that they had a tissue-forming solvent, Aja had been somewhat shocked that they had nothing which would bond the energy of his Akiridian form back together- although the aforementioned solvent did seem to assist a little bit in that as well. In the end, however, Aja discovered she was actually quite skilled in doing what had to be done and was relieved to find that Krel was not particularly afraid of needles. Or he was, at least, very good at pretending he wasn't. He had, afterall, become very good at muffling himself and hiding his pain in those few hours, so she couldn't know. Maybe she'd ask him later, just for the sheer curiosity in it. It seemed kind of like something _he_ would do…

After those four hours had passed, with Krel's injury cleaned, disinfected, less swollen, slightly numbed, and very firmly but comfortably (as much as you could be for such a thing, anyhow) wrapped, the two royalty found they were absolutely exhausted. They had had a late night on their second to last day of school, as Krel had been spending extra time perfecting his music for the next day, and on the next day, after all the excitement, they'd spent hours fighting enemies that were both their own and not. It lasted all through the night and then they spent a very large portion of the next day worrying over that horrible wound. Even for the fact that they were not human and did not need the same kind of rest as the inhabitants of Earth, they still did need sleep, and having reached over 36 hours straight with no sleep… Well…

And Aja had been mentally drained going over that little notepad of hers several dozen times, trying to differentiate all the things she would need to use on Krel and how to use them properly. She spent much too much of her time panicking that she wouldn't use them right, and trying to calm Krel. Of course, 4 hours for all that did sound a bit ridiculous. It only really took an hour and a half to get the necessities done, but Aja had grown so very sluggish. It shouldn't have even taken an hour and a half, and after things were wrapped and taken care of, she spent much of her time making sure Krel had the rest of his uncertainties said and that his tears had been wiped away whilst she put things away. And then, because the wound had been infected, she had to get several things back out twice more to re-bandage the wound and find out what she missed or what could be done to prevent the need to replace the bandage so frequently. After the third wrapping of Krel's midsection, she was sure she had gotten things taken care of well enough to put away the remainder of their supplies.

Krel, of course, was just as exhausted if not more so. His lack in training which he had been so upset about earlier meant that it took so much more effort for him to fight efficiently for himself. The battle was exhausting, the overnighter was exhausting… And to be frank, even sitting on a bed, being in pain in and of itself was exhausting. He though amusedly to himself that he must have cried enough tears to last him two Earth years or more. He was emotionally drained and felt so vulnerable, like a child. Just letting himself get taken care of and spending so much time in a foggy state of mind and in pain seemed to drag the hours on only further, and Aja still wouldn't let him fall asleep until she was sure things were taken care enough of to her liking. Gosh, she was exhausting, too.

Once everything had been bandaged and put away, Aja spent 10 minutes or so making them both some food and bringing Krel water. He must have drinken a dozen glasses, Aja had thought exasperatedly. Nourishing themselves had really been the only thing left on the list at that point except for sleep. So, after they had both had their fill of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, something very simple from Earth that they had both come to enjoy, and water, the dishes were pushed to the side and Aja joined Krel on his bed. They spoke for maybe another 15 minutes before their exhaustion seemed fully to have caught up.

And so it was that when Stuart re-entered the room after a trip to one of the local grocery stores (thinking they may enjoy or even need some popular Earth movies, blankets, and snacks), he found nothing more than two Akiridian children fast asleep on one small bed, snuggled into each as only a brother and sister could be.

* * *

Ooh, and yet another of my fics ends in a hug… XD I have so much to say about this, but I know most readers don't care, so I'll try to be brief for any of you who do like to read AN. See, a good amount of this is somewhat downplayed and I made a large number of guesses. Like that whole thing about life on Akiridion begin practically perfect? That was just relevant to the emotions I was trying to portray. And the whole energy vs biology thing going on? Yeah, it's a little weird and not 100% logical. Also, somewhere in the beginning, I said something along the lines of "maybe their biological designs were too monotonous in colour…" which throws off the whole idea I was trying to be plain about, that they were energy beings and not biological at all. I dunno how in or out of character I made Aja and Krel seem either, and I totally didn't give Luug any time whatsoever in here, not so much as a mention. And I can't be certain, of course that these insecurities I'm giving the characters are entirely accurate. And, given the insecurity of any and every kind of artist (which includes fanfiction authors), I feel like I ended it abruptly and all my transitions were bumpy and it didn't make sense and I was too cheesy and not cheesy enough and the ending left things untied and left too much up-to-the-reader but also not enough…. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah… Y'know, I actually started writing this within the hours after I finished watching the season on the day it came out… But my freetime's been so choppy, I've only just finished it now, which is just after midnight on Monday… in case that doesn't make sense, I picked up writing this again on Sunday night, and it is now Monday early, early morning, so… Anywho, thank you guys so much for reading! I would be beyond _thrilled_ to get some reviews, it always makes my day. Constructive criticism is appreciated, flattery is always more than welcome, flame is very disappointing and only tolerated if it is not inappropriate but not entirely unwelcome either, requests are fine but there are no guarantees… If I keep going, it'll be Christmas day before I even get this posted XD Merry Christmas, everybody! Happy New Year! Or Happy Hanukkah, or Merry Kwanzaa… Or whatever holiday you celebrate, or even if you celebrate none, have a nice week! Thank you again!

I'm gunna go binge the whole season again...

-LizzyLucky


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